City Power contractor, accomplice nabbed for demanding R5k bribe

JOHANNESBURG - A City Power contractor and his accomplice will on Wednesday appear before the Johannesburg magistrate's court on charges of fraud after they were arrested in Rosettenville for soliciting a R5 000 bribe from a resident in Turffontein.

The city of Johannesburg said the suspects approached a customer whose electricity account was in arrears and threatened to disconnect power supply to his property unless he forked out the money.

The main suspect is an official from an independent contractor who provides electricity disconnection services to City Power while his accomplice is a member of the public who was masquerading as a City Power official.

Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba said the customer agreed to pay the bribe but also informed city investigators before paying it, leading to a sting operation being set up with resulted in the arrest.

"I was informed that the suspects had in their possession 50 municipal accounts belonging to various clients.," Mashaba said.

"It’s a clear indication that these suspects are working with officials from the city who are providing them with the list of accounts that are in arrears."